Opportunity EduFinance joins UNESCO Global Education Coalition
In August 2020, Opportunity EduFinance became a member of the UNESCO COVID-19 Global Education Coalition to strengthen gender equality in and through education by minimising disruptions in learning and school engagement. as a result of COVID-19.
As regionalised school disruptions have highlighted, the impacts on educational access and learning gains can be prolonged, and at times, highly gender-biased. The 2005 Pakistan earthquakes and the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak west Africa both resulted in significant learning losses for girls, in terms of both access and education outcomes.
It is our mission to make sure that doesn’t happen this time around.
Our commitments to the COVID-19 Global Education Coalition will support gender equality by:
• Preventing permanent school closures with management support and tools for school leaders navigating these times
• Promoting continued student engagement during school closures with support for teachers
• Supporting schools to plan for phased reopening and complying with regulations
Member video with Andrew McCusker, Head of EduFinance
Like many around the world, we have been devastated by widespread school closures, and in particular on their impact on learning gains and permanent student dropout.
As a global NGO, Opportunity International is focussed on increasing access to quality education for children in low-income countries. We are deeply invested in minimizing the impact of school closures which is why we have joined the COVID-19 Global Education Coalition launched by UNESCO.
The Opportunity International Education Finance programme increases access to education by accelerating investment into almost 15,400 schools in 23 countries throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America; and building the capacity of school leaders and teachers to increase learning outcomes.
Our focus is on supporting school leaders and teachers to navigate the COVID-19 related regulations around school closures and plan for their re-opening. And by joining the Global Education Coalition, we are making freely available:
• Tools to help School Leaders manage operations through school closures and plan for re-opening
• Low bandwidth digital teacher training programmes to rapidly upskill new teaching staff as schools prepare to re-open
• Tools for teachers to remotely engage with pupils and parents to encourage a continuation of learning
Read more about our role in the Global Education Coalition on our member page here: https://globaleducationcoalition.unesco.org/Members/Details/260